Bananas

The club has not invested wisely, and its strategy has been short sighted. In summary, the club has tried to "buy" success "on the cheap". In the first season, we brought in over the hill greek internationals and thought one Stoch on loan would be enough. Same again in the second season. Third season was better in my opinion, as we went for a fresh approach and brought in players like Mak and Pereyra and actually had the beginnings of a good squad. Not enough depth though. This season we spend BIG ... queue irony. Two transfers over 1 million euros. Now that's a first for PAOK (and chicken feed for Olympiakos). Leovac and Cimirot are the only players in the history of PAOK that cost more than 1 million euros. So we spent ~6 million on transfers this season but you also need to subtract the money we got for Noboa and Lucas. In total, we spent around ~3 million euros. 3 million! Wow, hey big spender, spend a little time with me .... If spending 3 million on transfers and getting a young manager is all it takes to win a title, then every team would be doing it. If the club had spent 20 or 30 million then I'd say fair enough, now you're trying to compete with Olympiakos, but let's be serious now, we're not on the same level and have no place even thinking about anything other than coming second at best, for the foreseeable future. The other option if you don't want to spend big (which I fully understand is a big risk), is to invest in youth or players from lower leagues and hope that you can do it that way. That's been the approach this season, and for the most part I've been happy with it. Lots of young players, and let's be fair, not all will work out. It's just the way it is. But, if you can manage to keep this core of players like Kitsiou, Chatzisais (I can never spell this kids name), Charisis, Cimirot, Pelkas, Mystakidis can you imagine what they'll be like in 3 years from now when they've been playing together for 2 or 3 seasons ? All of sudden, maybe then you have a core that you can build on. But no, we want results now! And we want it cheap! And if we don't get it (someone mentioned we have some of the best fans in the country .. really ?) we'll trash your cars and threaten you. We want youth but we want results! Sorry, can't be done. It's either the old formula of over the hill players past their best trying but not so hard so they can prolong their career. They'll give it all in the derbies (and make the fans oh so happy) and then their level drops. Or it's go with youth, development and player "discovery" from lower leagues. As for managers, at PAOK we are experts at crucifying them. It makes feel ... oh so good ... and I mean, if you look at the past, it's been such a successful strategy.

for( ;; ) { if( paok loses or draws to "small" team ) { expect post from Reaper; } } . . . kill -9

I happen to agree with Nea Bafra. If you don't think the kid is good enough, why buy him ? Or if you think he needs development, loan him out. Having said that, we all have our opinions (and you could very well end up being right about Antonis) but there is no need to make derisive comments about others' opinions.

Jairo can be downright menacing if the full-back marking him lacks pace. He doesn't seem too bright when in the middle of the pitch, but if he's hugging the touch line, he can be useful. If you're going to play on the flank, you have to be able to dribble, get in behind the defense and cut the ball back, and he can definitely do that. Having said that, some his passes are outrageously bad. ;)

If I had to say which current PAOK player does Antonis resemble, I'd probably say Golasa. He's never going to dominate a midfield, but is a useful link up player. The worth of these sorts of players is difficult to measure because statistics alone like goals or assists won't paint them in a favourable light. They don't have that "explosive" show like Mak or Rodrigues either. The only way to measure them is to watch how they play. Someone like Roy Keane back in the day, looking at statistics alone, you'd think he's the least required player in the midfield, and yet, he was the most important.

I still think Anastasiadis was thrown to the wolves. Yes, he's a bit of fruit loop but the fact is, he got us into 1st position for the first time ... this century. The problem of course is his personality but I still rate him as a manager. Either way, it doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done.

Our injuries have been ridiculous. The tricky part is working out if there is something the club can do about it. Is the training too hard ? Are the facilities or doctors not good enough ? Add to that the fact that you don't really know with new players what they are capable of. What I mean is, we buy a player, but more than likely they have come from a team that doesn't play in Europe regularly and then when they have 2 games a week, their body can't cope.

Tricky subject. There is no answer that everyone will agree with. That's what you get when you have 7 billion people living in one place. And the simple fact is that certain people (for whatever reason) are self destructive. I'll have a spliff and get back to you on it.

Chatzisias is looking so far like the CB we've been lacking. One more of him and I'd feel a lot better about our defence. I think it's time to let Vitor go. Up front we have problems. Berbatov and Klaus are not high work rate players and then when you add Tziolis into the mix you've got 3 players that don't run hard. Makes it difficult for everyone else. They are all good players in their own way but I wouldn't have all 3 playing at the same time. I also think that Klaus is not good enough to be a starting CF.

He's not quite there Amorgos. When he's on, he's on. But he often fades in and out of games. There are times when it's like he's not on the pitch. Overall, he's still had a great season and is definitely worthy of being in the squad, but he's still got some work to do. Will he succeed ? Time will tell.

Half of those players don't even play regularly for their team. Don't understand how they are a lock.

That's the essence of the problem with the Greek public sector. The percentage of the work force employed in it is meaningless, in and of itself. What is important is whether actual productive work is being done. I only found out recently about double pensions. That made me smile.

The tricky thing is picking who is "best". When Stevens was manager it was Kitsiou although Skondras wasn't given a chance and I'm not sure if Konstantinidis was in the senior team. When Anastasiadis was manager it was Skondras. Kitsiou went missing and Konstantinidis wasn't given much of a chance. With Tudor, Skondras has really regressed. Kitsiou has upped his form and is a bit more consistent. Konstantinidis was the best before his injury. It would help if their form was more consistent, although to be fair to Kitsiou and Konstantinidis they are still developing.

Good lord I am enjoying Leicester's run this season. Hello, what's your name ? Man City, is it. Here you go, have 3 goals. Then you get the rocket scientists who come out and say "they probably won't win the title". Seriously ? Enjoy the ride for what it is.

Agree fully, and I find it intriguing that this is so. The US bucks the trend of most first world countries when it comes to religion. Australia had the concept of religion built into its constitution from its very beginning. Before each parliamentary session, the "Lord's Prayer" is recited. And yet in Australia if a politicians mentions "God" in every day language, he/she will be looked at as if they are a fruit loop. The vast majority of people really don't care if a politician believes in (a) God or not. It is (and this is a good thing), of little relevance. Why it's such a big deal in the US, I don't really understand. One thing is for sure, if you want to lose an election in the US today, just say you don't believe in God. On the other hand, we have our own silliness here in Australia, as Red Sheriff rightfully points out. Even trying to have a discussion on this issue, even in the name of discovering truth, is a guaranteed way to become hugely unpopular. Some ideas just can't be touched ... at least not while certain generations of people are alive. Please, say it isn't so. Then again, the book of Genesis does have some really cool stories.

Ha ha. I was just going to ask how Chatzisias played. Thanks for the post PAOKSYD. I was also thinking that Vitor's time might be up. He's been a decent player, without ever being great. As you say, I've never felt 100% with him at the back there. Was Vellidis that bad ? Surely he can't be worse than Olsen. But, for the reported transfer fee you'd like to think he's better than Glykos ... As far as signing a number 10 goes, I can only assume the one's we liked didn't want to play for us. It's tricky to sign a quality number 10, that's in form, during the Christmas transfer period. Sabo, well, I only hope he does a Tzavellas next season and improves immensely. Tzavellas was for the tip last season. He's been very good this season.

I am surprised Antonis hasn't been given a shot yet. He's generally a composed player, which PAOK sorely lacks. But it's hard to say what's really going on. Maybe he's not performing well in training ?

I wonder how much money PAOK gets out of this deal. Thanks Savvidis.

Be afraid of anyone that is extremely religious or extremely patriotic.

Ah come on, what the governments, diplomats and multi-nationals want is very different to what the people want. No common citizen in the EU wants anything to do with Turkey. To say they are in a strong position geopolitically is fair enough, but adored is a big stretch. Not sure what you're trying to claim here. Are you confused ? Yes, we all know Turkey and Russia use their power to bully. I'm simply stating that as nations, their isn't much to admire ... at all. Who would want to live in such countries. They suck.

At least Arnesen is there. As long as he's still Technical Director, I have a small glimmer of hope. It could be the case that he's not the man to improve the team, but please, let the man try. Give him a budget, a real budget, and let's see what he can do. Who out of the rabble from the past can do better ?

Berbatov is in the squad. Sothikame.

I don't even know why Vezyrtzis was hired. What does a Vice-President do anyway ? As for him, he was in the media nearly every day. Maybe he thought he was running the club. Ante yia.

A game so clever they managed to lose all of their Empire, and are now despised by pretty much almost every country that has any dealings with them. I wouldn't consider Turkey or Russia models of social or economic progress. There really is not much to admire about both of these nations. The truth is, they are backwards, and their thinking is based on "Balkan" strategy, but one which doesn't really apply in the modern world. I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of the "law" in either of these countries. Backwards, violent, corrupt.

Vukic, now there is a true super sub.